300 



CLASS REPTILIA, THE REPTILES. 



CHAPTER IV. 

 OEDER OPHIDIA. THE SNAKES. 



THE SNAKES The Poisonous and the Non-Poisonous Characteristics of a Snake Serpent Worship and Superstition 

 About Fascination Skeleton of a Snake Scales and Plates on Head and Body Moulting THE POISONOUS 

 COLUBRINE SNAKES THE POISONOUS TERRESTRIAL COLUBRINE SNAKES THE COBRAS The Cobra-di-Capello 

 The Egyptian Cobra, or Naja THE RING HALS SLANG THE HAMADRYAD SNAKE THE BUNGARUMS AND KRAITS 

 The Poisonous Elapidse of Australia and the New World THE POISONOUS SEA SNAKES THE VIPERINE SNAKES 

 Characters THE ADDER, OR COMMON VIPER The only Poisonous Reptile in Britain Habits Its usual Prey Its 

 Young The Horned and other kinds of African Vipers The Daboia The Echis THE RATTLESNAKES, OR PIT 

 VIPERS The Common Rattlesnake Its Habits The "Rattle" The Water-rattle Various Kinds of Rattlesnake 

 Coues on the Use of the Rattle The Bushmaster Darwin on the Genus Trigonocephalus The Water Viper The 

 Copper-head Snake The Yellow Viper, or Fer-de-Lance The East Indian Genera of Pit Vipers How Venomous 

 Snakes Dispose of their Victims Peculiar Construction of their Skull for Swallowing purposes The Fangs and 

 Poison-glands of the Rattlesnake Symptoms of Poisoning How does the Poison kill ? Treatment of Bites Snake- 

 Charmers THE INNOCUOUS COLUBRIFORM SNAKES Characters THE WART SNAKES- THE WHIP SNAKES 

 Why so called The Langaha The Blunt-Headed Snakes THE TREE SNAKES THE DESERT SNAKES THE RACHIODONT 

 FAMILY An Egg-swallowing Snake Fresh-water Snakes THE COLUBRIDES NATRICIN^E The Common Snake 

 Found in England Habits -How it Disposes of its Food COLUBRINE CORONELLINJS CALAMARID.E THE ROCK 

 SNAKES Distribution Huge Proportions How they Tackle their Prey The Indian Species The West African 

 Forms Pythons Hatching their Eggs The Diamond and Carpet Snakes The Boas The Boa Constrictor 

 Construction of a Python's Skull The Anaconda THE SAND SNAKES THE SHORT-TAILED SNAKES THE BLIND 

 SNAKES Characters Peculiarities of Structure in Serpents The Remarkable Eyelid Fossil Snakes Classification 

 of the Ophidia THE EXTINCT REPTILES THE DINOSAUHIA THE ORNITHOSAURIA THE ICHTHYOPTERYGIA THE 

 PLESIOSAURIA THE EXTINCT SAURIA, OR LACERTILIA. 



A LITTLE Snake,* with rows of black spots on the back and sides, a yellow splash behind the head, 

 and pale lead or bluish underneath, may be seen now and then in quiet, warm places in England 

 basking on banks in the sun or sliding in or out of a pond. It is often made a pet of, and is harm- 

 less to man, although a terror to frogs, but even to them it is not poisonous. It lays eggs. It is the 

 common Harmless Snake. Another one,f found on dry heaths and sandy banks, and amongst low 

 brushwood and thickets, has the neck rather smaller than the back of the head, which is enlarged 

 behind the eyes ; and the long body swells to about its middle, and then scarcely diminishes in 

 thickness to near the end, where it becomes abruptly smaller. Its colour may be olive or rich deep 

 brown, or dirty brown-yellow, and there is a zigzag pattern down the sides, and spots of a darker 

 tint. Little ones may be found with it, and it produces the young in the living condition. This 

 is the Viper, or Adder, and it inflicts fatal wounds with its fangs upon small animals like mice, 

 and its poison will imperil the life of delicate and unhealthy men. Common observation can 

 thus separate the Snakes of Great Britain, for there are only these, into two divisions the 

 innocuous and the poisonous and this classification holds good for the Snakes of the whole 

 world ; and special anatomical characters are found in the last group, making the distinctions 

 all the more obvious and real. Thus in India there are many very pi'etty Snakes which swallow 

 small living prey, without the teeth introducing a poison, and there are also the terrible Cobras, 

 and many others, which can destroy the life of man, or of large animals, in a few minutes, by 

 the agency of a drop of fluid which enters the wound with the teeth. The same observation is 

 true in Africa and America, and it is found that many of the innocuous Snakes crush their prey in the 

 folds of their long bodies, whilst the poisonous inflict a wound which they seem to know will be fatal, 

 and when the victim is dead, or in its last struggle, it is swallowed whole. Probably there are 1,300 

 kinds of Snakes in the world thus separable into the harmless and poisonous, or, more properly, into 

 the non-poisonous and the poisonous, for the great Pythons and Boas are dangerous to man by their 

 squeezing and clasping ; moreover, they bite fiercely, but do not inflict a poisoned wound. 



Many Snakes in tropical climates live a forest life, climbing on and moving amongst the trees, 

 and are usually beautifully coloured. They are long in the body, very active, and are very pro- 

 perly called Tree Snakes. Most of them are not provided with poison fangs, but some have them, 

 so that the great primary divisions of the Snakes are present. But it is found that some of these 

 poisonous kinds ai-e not viviparous like the Vipers or Adders, and they bring forth eggs like the 



* Tropidonotm natrix. t felias berut. 



